A present commonly used optical frame comprises a front frame which holds lenses and to which nose pads are attached, and a pair of temples each of which extends backward from both ends of the front frame. A rear portion of the temple is bent downward; thus, functioning as an ear pad member. Glasses are worn by hooking the rear portion of the temple at the back of an ear (between ear and head). However, since a part (rear portion) of the temple constitutes the ear pad member, when a user performs various movements, the rear portion of the temple easily slips up, so that the glasses are easily slipped down.
As an optical frame that overcomes the above problems and that prevents glasses from slipping down, there has been well-known an optical frame, as disclosed in JP-A 07-56124 (1995), having an ear pad member separately from a temple, wherein the ear pad member is formed so as to freely oscillate with respect to the temple. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a conventional optical frame. As shown in FIG. 6, according to the conventional optical frame disclosed in, for example, JP-A 07-56124 (1995), when a front frame 71 starts to slip down in a state where the glasses are worn (state A), a rear portion of a temple 72 starts to slip up, thereby moving a ear pad member 73 upward. When the ear pad member 73 starts to move upward, the ear pad member 73 starts to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction with the use of a shaft 70 of an ear pad member attaching portion 72a of the temple 72 as a rotational center. Herein, a force in a front end of the ear pad member 73 pressing against the back of the ear becomes greater and, as a result, the relative movement between the ear pad member 73 and the back of the ear is hindered, so that the rear portion of the temple 13 is prevented from slipping up. Glasses are thereby prevented from slipping down.
However, the conventional optical frame has the following problems. First, the optical frame attached with the ear pad member 73 as in the conventional optical frame is a special optical frame and does not have versatility. Particularly, since the optical frame has presently established a status as an accessory or as part of fashion, the optical frame is often changed depending on the mood of the day. To have all the optical frames like the conventional optical frame increases their manufacturing cost, thus increasing the unit price of the optical frame. Further, it is considered that the degree of freedom of design of the optical frame is limited. On the other hand, if the user has a plurality of optical frames, it is expensive to have all the optical frames like the above optical frame, thus narrowing the range of choice of the optical frame.
Secondly, if the temple 72 is lifted upward when the user takes off the glasses (state B), the hair tends to get into a space between the temple 72 and the front end of the ear pad member 73 from an x direction and gets tangled at an attaching portion 72a of the temple 72 and the ear pad member 73, thus pulling the hair. Therefore, the user feels uncomfortable every time the user takes off the glasses. As described above, the ear pad member 73 starts to rotate in the counter-clockwise direction in FIG. 6 when the temple 72 is lifted upward and the angle between the temple 72 and the front end of the ear pad member 73 is increased, thus causing the hair to easily get in. Particularly, such a problem is significant to a user with long hair, and the user may lose the desire to wear the glasses.
The present invention is made in order to overcome the above problems, and it is a first object of the present invention to provide an optical frame attachment and an optical frame capable of preventing glasses from slipping down without using a special frame and without increasing the load on a nose by an optical frame.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide an optical frame attachment and an optical frame capable of preventing glasses from slipping down without increasing the load on a nose and, also, capable of suppressing tangling of hair to the glasses upon taking off the glasses.